June 26, 2013

Well, as the old saying goes, you can't please everybody. The Roman Conference of Bishops has issued a rather petty but also profoundly revealing whine concerning today's Supreme Court rulings. The truly sad thing about this statement is how theologically shallow it is; and one would think the shallows would be the easiest place not to miss the boat — yet they manage so to do.

This comes from the incessant hammering on a thesis as if it were "a truth" when it is nothing of the sort. It is an assertion, and one that fails the simplest tests of reason.

The thesis that "marriage is the only institution that brings together a man and a woman
for life, providing any child who comes from their union with the secure
foundation of a mother and a father" appears to take no cognizance of the reality that this is only a function of marriage, and not one which all marriages carry out. Marriages that do result in the birth and nurture of a child by its biological parents are in no way diminished by those marriages that do not, mixed-sex or same-sex.

More importantly, this short statement, for all its quoting of Jesus on marriage, misses the test of faith, and seems to take no recognition of what God may have intended to convey through the birth of that very Jesus, who did not, according to the doctrine, enjoy being raised by his biological father and mother. His mother narrowly missed being put away or put to death on good legal grounds. Perhaps, had they been around, these prelates would so have advised.

I am reminded of a passage from the Protoevangelium of James: Joseph beholds Mary (on the way to Bethlehem) alternately weeping and laughing, and asks why. She explains, "It is because I behold two peoples with mine eyes, the one weeping and lamenting and the other rejoicing and exulting..."

I think the Blessed Mother of God is shaking her head in dismay at this Conference of unwed prelates, whose views on marriage derive entirely from theory; who have by choice refused to participate in the very institution they say they hold in such high esteem. I think she would repeat the old saying I cited above, "Well, you can't please everybody."

Whatever else, this sad batch of waterless clouds will not rain on my parade.

My Contribution to the Listening Process

"a book that honors the Word of God, the faith once delivered, and moves it into our cultural context."—The Episcopal New Yorker

"seeks to meet opponents on their own ground, assessing their arguments carefully and refuting them courteously.... The value ... lies not in its conclusions alone but chiefly in the way Haller reaches them. Whoever is charged with compiling ... resources [on same-sex relationships] will want to add this book to the list."— The Anglican Theological Review